OEM GPS Installs - Page 2

VWmike · 03-16-2005, 05:50 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by JC-S60

The poor radio-reception could be due to the fact that it might be an active antenna... If the factory HU sends out power over the coax (as with the GPS-receiver), an aftermarket HU probably won't do that.

JC-S60 ,

Seems you where right on the money with this. It is in fact an active FM antenna. I did some searching and found an adapter ... here
$25.00 , one more thing to buy. Damn this is getting expensive . Anyway thanks for the help.

Chris31 · 03-16-2005, 07:32 PM

Is the reception much better with an external antenna than the typical GPS mouse type when also placed on the roof?

jcdillin · 03-16-2005, 07:34 PM

well I had a serial GPS unit sitting on the deck above my trunk and I would only get about 5 to 7 sats, with the external antenna and the Garmin, I never have less than 9 most the time it's 10 to 12

Chris31 · 03-16-2005, 08:10 PM

Cool,

Since this OEM + antenna solution is brough up my interest has sparked up again. I have a garmin GPS16 with a built in antenna. I get 3 to no lock in a dense area, about 6-9 in open space. I have been thinking year ago if its worth the money and hassel to upgrade to OEM + antenna.

Can we conclude that the build in antenna is not as good as the external one?

wagonerd · 03-17-2005, 02:27 PM

not to turn this into another tv antenna thread but, what are the odds that this antenna would give better reception for a tv tuner? (sorry...had to ask

)

Zip-Lock · 03-20-2005, 10:35 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by VWmike

The shark fin is a factory VW part, P/N 1K0-035-507-C .

So this antenna supports FM and GPS? I wish it supported XM too. I wonder where the antenna is as a factory option on the 2005 models. I would be really nice to consolidate all the antennas into a single factory antenna.

JC-S60 · 03-21-2005, 08:42 AM

As TV-frequency is nowhere near Radio/GPS frequencies, it won't improve tv-reception at all.

Stonewall78 · 05-22-2005, 01:57 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by VWmike

P/N FA1-NCRJ-C01-0 / GPS
P/N FA1-NDRJ-C01-0/ am/fm

Thanks for all the info Mike. I don't have to worry about crimper and cable etc as I have them all at work and I make RF cables all the time. Thanks alot of the part number on those connectors though. I would order an antenna from impex but they are don't like to ship to canada and their prices seem to be getting higher and higher

RedGTiVR6 · 07-04-2006, 10:11 PM

Man - I wish you still posted here VWmike!

Unfortunately the link to the first cable is bad (it was an ebay auction...

)

Anyone have any more info on this cable?

edit

ok - I've done a bit more reading and searching, since I'm not using a case, I don't need to worry with the BNC connectors. So this leads me to my next question. What kind of connection is made to the card its self? Is it a MCX connection on the card and at the antenna? If I'm seeing it right, it appears that the reciever has a female connection built onto it, so that end of the cable needs to be male? What about the antenna end? Male or female? I'm thinking that this cable would be what I would need but I'm a little unclear. Anyone? Link to cable

Also, regarding the mention of the connectors:

P/N FA1-NCRJ-C01-0 / GPS

Is this because the antenna only comes with ONE end and you need to buy the other?

I'm not worried about the FM part of this just yet. If I can find a decent FM card, I would be happy to utilize that part of the antenna as well.

Quote: Originally Posted by VWmike

Stonewall78, I have put together the following information about the shark fin in hopes that if you do decide to take on the mod it will go as smooth as possible.

Gps shark fin/ 1K0-035-507-C
The antenna is part of VW's navigation system and cost $110 US. Should be able to get it at any VW dealer . I purchased it online here... Antenna

Cable 1
The first cable you will need is available on ebay. This cable is the one connected to the GPS module and runs to the back of the case. $12.50 US
Link

Cable 2
This is probably the hardest to aquire and runs from the back of the case to the antenna. The cable you will need is RG174 or RG316 and terminated with a male BNC connector. I acquired this at work and didn't need to buy it but have done some searching and you can buy cable assemblies with BNC connectors on both ends fairly cheap.
Link
This leads me to the connectors that are on the antenna. They are made by Amphenol and detailed information on them can be found here
The blue one is GPS and purple is AM/FM radio. I bought them online from digi-key and where about $4.00ea. Digi-key

P/N FA1-NCRJ-C01-0 / GPS
P/N FA1-NDRJ-C01-0/ am/fm

The connectors do require a special crimper inorder to crimp a ferrule around the outer shield of the coax. Although if you have above average soldering skills it is possible to solder the outer shield to the connector. After assembling the cable I would recommend checking that the center conductor and the shield are not shorted together. This can be checked with any ohmmeter and you are looking for infinite resistance. If it is shorted then the 3vdc being supplied by the gps module will be going straight to ground and will it will fry.....

I think that covers just about everything. I have tested the gps operation with mapmonkey and I have locked on to 7 satillites with the antenna strung out my back porch about 7ft away from my house . I can only guess that this would only improve the farther I get from the house. I have not installed this in my car yet as my install is still months away but cannot find any reason why it won't work.

Just a note about the Radio portion of the antenna. I have yet to do any testing in regards to reception quality with a aftermaket head unit. I have read some posts on other forums about poor radio reception when they remove the factory VW radio and replace it with a aftermaket one. This is something I can live with becuase I can't remember when the last time I listened to FM radio. Excellent FM radio reception is something you absolutely must have then you might want to wait unitll I get my new head unit and can verify the reception quality....

Good luck

RedGTiVR6 · 07-04-2006, 11:06 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by jcdillin

And here it is installed in the computer

I know that you said you made one of these cables. I'm trying to figure out exactly which one.

Is it the one that goes to the serial port?

Also, I'm trying to understand why you went to a serial port on the back of the machine that leads to nothing instead of going to a serial port actually on the mobo. Or did you just tap into the serial port back there instead of going to the mobo directly?

Thanks in advance!

RedGTiVR6 · 07-04-2006, 11:43 PM

PS: if anyone is interested, I've found the antenna listed for right at $100 on this site:

https://www.1stvwparts.com/part_number.html

Just search under the OEM part number: 1K0035507C

Change · 07-24-2006, 01:41 AM

Spiffy SiRF III module: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/pro...roducts_id=652

I'd buy one if I hadn't already bought a Garmin GPS 15H. Ah well, when the time comes to replace it there will be GPS/GLONASS/Galileo combo units on the market

RedGTiVR6 · 07-24-2006, 10:38 AM

so what's different between that module and the Garmin?

I notice that it only has a 110v power supply....wonder if the wall wart is just converting it to 12v? or if the unit takes 110V to begin with?

and I'm gathering that since it's an eval version, it's still in beta mode?

can you go into a bit more detail about the GPS/GLONASS/Galileo units?

What is special about those? I'm gathering it's more sensitive? more accurate?

Change · 07-24-2006, 03:30 PM